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August 30, 2018

MOBAs and Shooters Dominate eSports Content on Twitch

April 10, 2016
John Paolo "Sandata" Bago

Newzoo’s latest report on eSports viewership on Twitch outlined staggering numbers for the MOBA and shooter genres on the games streaming platform.

According to the Newzoo report, eSports totaled 21.3% of Twitch’s viewership from July to December of 2015. The three most watched games included MOBAs League of Legends and Dota 2. Rounding out the top three is the wildly popular and fastest growing eSport, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

In total, up to 475.5 million hours of eSports content was viewed eSports titles, for an average of over 79 million hours of competitive gaming action viewed a month.

MOBAs account for 58% of total eSports hours watched in Twitch, with industry leader League of Legends leading the numbers over Valve’s Dota 2.

Shooter games, of which CSGO is the most prominent, made up 27% of eSports numbers. MOBAs and shooters combined for some 406.7 million hours of eSports watched.

THE BIG 5. The five biggest eSports on Twitch are League of Legends, Dota 2, CSGO, Hearthstone and StarCraft 2. MOBAs and Shooters combined for 85% of total eSports hour viewed on the platform (Photo by Newzoo).

The remaining 10% of eSports hours watched belonged to the strategy genres lead by Blizzard titles StarCraft 2 and Hearthstone.

Difference in audience shares

While League of Legends leads with total hours viewed, Dota 2, CSGO and StarCraft 2 generated more eSports hours proportionately. Dota 2, CSGO and StarCraft 2 each have global competitive leagues that drives viewership, while League of Legends have a relatively large group of non-eSports content creators and fans on the streaming platform.

In total, Dota 2 generated 125.4 million eSports hours, and 116.2 million consumer hours. By contrast, League of Legends generated 142.8 million eSports hours and 308.5 million consumer hours.

The comparison is especially highlighted between Hearthstone and StarCraft 2. Of the 235.3 hours spent watching Hearthstone, only 13% of the total hours is centered on its eSports aspect. Meanwhile of the 36.9 million hours spent watching StarCraft 2, 47% is centered on its eSports scene.

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